An inspiring visit to three wines areas of Germany Wurttemberg, Baden and Pfalz, September 2013.

There is a new generation of winemakers that are taking over the family estate with the full support of the previous generation who are equally as excited. The photo shows how the labels of changed since 1971.

They are dynamic in what they want to achieve and many have travelled to France, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, learning different techniques and approaches. They see how the wine market has changed and consumers are seeking out dry wines.

Germany are producing top quality dry wines as well as still producing the mouth watering off dry and sweet style wines. What is great is that although the wine makers are taking on new approaches they are continuing with traditional grape varieties such as Grauburgunder and Weissburgunder. don’t worry you do know these grapes its just that they keep the Germany names. Grauburgunder is Pinot Gris (aka Pinot Grigio) and Weissburgunder is Pinot Blanc.

We travelled in the South part of Germany where we tasted some really great red wines, with the lesser known Lemberger which is light to medium body in style with delicious red fruit character and a spiciness reminiscent of syrah. This was a style of wine that I really enjoyed and hope to show you in the near future.

As with all great wine it starts in the vineyard and these vineyards are something else! The vineyards are planted on very steep slopes in some cases close to vertical, the picture here shows at us at the top of Joachim Fischer of Weingut Sonnenhof. Weingut = Winery.

The visit to Germany really was inspiring and showed me a whole different side to Germany that I didn’t expect. Fresh, dynamic produces show casing fresh and dynamic wines. The generation of cheap sugary bland wines are well and truly over. The new generation have begun, lets get tasting. For all photos have a look on our facebook page here

A list of Producers that we visited

Joachim Fischer www.weingutsonnenhof.de

Weingut Drautz-Able

Weingut Hirth www.weinguthirth.de

Cleebronn-Güglingen www.cleebronner-winzer.de

Weingut Klumpp www.weingut-klumpp.com

Weingut Hummel www.weingut-hummel.de

Weingut Alexander Laible www.weingut-alexanderlaible.de

Winzergenossenschaft Deutsches www.weintor.de

Weingut Schneiderfritz www.schneiderfritz.de

Weingut Villa Hochdörffer www.weingut-villa.de

Weingut ZumStein Kaiserslauterer www.zumstein.de